April 29, 2014: Sunken Ships

[xoxoxoBruce]

The steam-powered merchant ship sank within 20 minutes of being hit – taking her valuable cargo and crew with her.

All but one member of crew survived. Second Officer Richard Ayres, along with 30 other men avoided being hit by the firing German U-boat and made their way to a lifeboat.

I guess she didn't take her crew with her after all.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I guess she didn't take her crew with her after all.

I think you have a point there, Bruce!

As mentioned, other articles seemed to be no more than 'puff pieces' and the Royal Mint's own offering wasn't anything to write home about either.

Unfortunately, local or regional newspapers in the UK are rarely journals of record as our own dear Bucks Herald unfailingly reminds us.
However, it's worth buying for the damned good laugh it gives us.

Try the Daily Telegraph article. It's behind a paywall, but you should get a few articles free, gratis and for nothing.
A friend tells me that clearing cookies, browser cache etc can be helpful should the need arise. Never tried it meself, you understand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Gairsoppa

[xoxoxoBruce]

Since you were hiding this from us, so you and Dad could corner the market on the coins, the legitimate news articles get buried in the archives. That said, we've gotten the basic plot of how India was looted of 7 million oz of silver, and the Germans playing Zorro stopped the completion of the crime.

Seriously though, I got a kick out of the reader's comments with that Telegraph article, how the Royal Navy should have recovered this hoard in their spare time.

By the way, I've read you can skirt the paywall by using private browsing.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

...we've gotten the basic plot of how India was looted of 7 million oz of silver, and the Germans playing Zorro stopped the completion of the crime.

Looted? Looted, sir?

I'll have you know that the hallmarks of the British Empire were benevolence and fair play. After all, we invented cricket.